U.S. gasoline consumption in the week leading up to the Independence Day holiday may have been the highest since September 2019, adding to signs of recovery from the pandemic travel slump, analysts said. Demand for the week ended July 2 was probably 9.6 million barrels per day based on retail sales, said Patrick DeHaan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy. That would be the highest since Sept. 6, 2019, and compares with a national moving average in early July 2019 of 9.7 million barrels a day. The Energy Information Administration will report consumption figures Thursday. The inflection point underscores how dramatic the comeback has been in one of the world’s largest fuel-consuming nations as lockdowns ease and people take to the roads and skies once again. The rebound, along with limited […]